


[Poison & Ancedotes] Welcome to the Masquerade

by ButifulDeath



Category: Scion (Tabletop RPG)
Genre: Aesir, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Scion - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-18 22:01:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9404774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ButifulDeath/pseuds/ButifulDeath
Summary: The Origins of Harper, the world's greatest Thief, and one day Goddess of Honorable Thieves and Sineater of the Lost





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Origins of Harper, and how she met Storm

_We've got the fire, who's got the matches_   
_Take a look around at the sea of masks_   
_and come one come all, welcome to the grand ball_ _  
Where the strong run for cover and the weak stand tall _

It was cold at night - a thing a lot of people didn’t think about being associated with the desert. And while warmer in the city, once you tried to sleep on concrete and your core temperature dropped, it felt far colder than it was.

Of course the seven year old trying to sleep around her shivering didn’t know that. All she knew was that running away had seemed better than being hit again. Or the house before where it had been likely she’d only eat once every other day. Apparently Foster families in Nevada didn’t know how to deal with smart kids. At least that was what her social worker had grumbled. That nice lady, Ms. Annie, had never blamed her, and had railed on plenty of foster families - even if there had been a little fault on Harper’s part. Being hauled off and kicked across a room however, Annie had assured her was not an acceptable reaction to a child calling an adult on a lie.

That was the one thing she regretted was Annie. Annie was probably going to have a lot of paperwork and worry over her running away - but it was also why she’d made sure to make it to Las Vegas. Not only could she probably get better chances of food and shelter there, but it was far enough away that the little podunk backwater county she’d been holed up in would never assume someone her age would make it that far. That Way Annie wouldn’t have to worry about her again.

But she had not considered when escaping the house, stealing enough money for bus fare and finding a sheltered place to camp from the sun, that the night would be so very difficult. She was delirious with exhaustion, and so so tired, but the shivering was keeping her from sleeping - that and the hunger. She’d have been fine if there’d been any food in the house before she’d left. Everything hurt from the cold and being hungry, and it seemed Sleep was not possible that night.

To make matters worse she heard a roll of thunder in the distance and whimpered - not from fear. On the rare times it stormed in Nevada, she loved it. But it would of course be the day she ran away and was homeless that one of those rare storms would decide to happen tonight.

Trying to talk herself into sleeping before the rain came, she was almost out when something warm and heavy was set over her. Starling awake she would have sat bolt upright or run away, but her body just wouldn’t do it.

“Shh, pup,” said a weirdly accented deep voice. “You’re safe - I will not harm you, nor will I let anyone else. Sleep now.”

Harper wanted to argue, but his voice was comforting despite sounding weird and a strange, tingly feeling washed over her like pure relief not her own and suddenly she was out like a light.

In the morning, Harper woke with a start, feeling refreshed and rested to find that the thing she’d been covered by was a jacket. Next to her she found a hot breakfast biscuit, a few cans of soup with a can opener and a new back pack with a change of clothes and small travel shampoos and the few things she’d brought with her.

Her Savior however was nowhere to be found.


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm not one to scatter ashes_   
_But there's some things that melt the plastic_ _  
Try and dig down deeper if you can _

It was weeks before the strange man was heard from again. She’d run out of soup and been run out of a convenience store for trying to steal more having run out of money over a week ago. Harper was waiting on a corner, pretending to check out her nails and wait on someone, telling anyone who asked she was waiting on her dad as she looked for a mark.

She’d watched the street performers on The Strip - some legit, some thieves - and her tummy rumbled enough that despite having anxiety about the whole ordeal, she’d made up her mind. She was going to get herself a wallet. The plan was to pickpocket someone, take the cash and turn it it to the nearest hotel saying she’d found it. If there was no cash, then do the same after going by an ATM or something.

Her hands shook and she was nervous, but her stomach growled again steeling her resolve. And as luck would have it, some business woman stopped on her phone having an arguement, her large wallet hanging partially out of her purse. This was it.

“Ted, I don’t _care_ what that old man says about ‘his’ company! It hasn’t been HIS company since 1982!”

Harper stood from where she leaned on the corner of the alley and glanced around nonchalantly to make sure no one was watching.

“It hasn’t been his fucking company since he sold his portion of shares to pay off his damn gambling debt to the Russians!”

Taking a few steps forward, Harper deftly dodged the crowd to sidle up to the unaware woman. To onlookers it looked like they were together. It helped that she was blonde. Most people would mistake them both having the same hair color to mean relation.

“Well then maybe the stupid old man should have thought of that before spending his life savings at the Bellagio, and then in backroom games. This is _my_ company Ted, and he’d going to sign that deal or I will sued him into an early fucking grave.”

Eyeing the wallet, keen green eyes debated how best to ‘lift’ it, as she’d heard the professionals call it. One purse strap was going to make it difficult, but she thought she saw a way around. giving one last glance around, Harper started to subtly reach up.

“He doesn’t scare me Ted, the numbers do.”

Reaching… trying to keep her breath even.

“No you tell them they have to answer to me. I’m catching a cab and flying back in an hour and I will see all of them fired the minute I do!”

Reaching…

“I guess we'll see, won’t we?!”

Finger touching the wallet….

Suddenly Harper was snatched up from behind, feet off the ground and a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. Terrified, she would have too, but as the woman in the business suit was carrying on her angry conversation it seemed that she, nor anyone passing in the crowd as noticed.

Harper struggled until a familiar voice said, “Stop. I just saved you from a large mistake. That woman was sent to hurt you, and you were walking right into her trap.”

It was the strange accented voice that had given her a jacket and soup, and Harper while no less terrified did as instructed and stopped struggling. He lead her unnoticed through the crowd and back down the alley she’d been hiding in. Throwing her over his shoulder he climbed a fire escape up 7 stories, far more quickly than Harper would have thought possible, but he was a grown man and she a child.

When they were safely on the roof, she was set down and for the first time, Harper saw her benefactor. Tall with a long, faded army jacket pulled up over long, shaggy silver hair Harper would have been lying if she’d said she wasn’t intimidated - which she would have said if asked. It didn’t help he had a huge, long beard and what looked like an old scrap of cloth tied over one eye.

Harper tried to ask who he was, or what he wanted with her… but her voice caught in her throat and wouldn’t escape. He crossed his arms over his dirty flannel shirt and looked down at her, Harper flinching instinctively about the inevitable yelling and possible backhand coming her way. When she met his eyes, she saw his eyes soften. “You’re not in trouble, pup,” he said kindly, the words sounding strange.

“I’m… but you know what I was going to do.”

“I do, and I don’t blame you. Do you feel that I should?”

“No! I’m hungry!” she said, tears instantly in her eyes as she felt defensive suddenly.

“I know. Which is why you are not in trouble. What did I say to you?”

Harper looked at him, mad for no discernable reason and confused… but not paying attention had cost her a few times recently and in the past, so she focused. “That that lady was trying to trap me. Does she work for the State?”

“No. She works for far scarier people.”

“Then why does she care about me?”

“Because I helped you.” Before that had time to process, the old man sat down on an AC unit and sighed. “And I will continue to help you. I will teach you everything you need to know to survive and avoid more people like her, should they come.”


	3. Chapter 3

_I'm not afraid_ _  
_ _I'm not ashamed_ _  
_ _I'm not to blame_ _  
_ _Welcome to the masquerade_ _  
_ _I'm not ashamed_ _  
_ _I'm not afraid_ _  
_ _I'm not okay_ _  
_ _Welcome to the masquerade_   


Ody was always hanging around the park, like most bums in Vegas. But unlike the others he never seemed to get harangued by the police. Aside from teaching her how to pickpocket and not get caught, it was one of the reasons Harper sought him out. Especially on days like today when the police were chasing her.

She darted through some shrubs and rolled under a park bench - running was necessary when you were 11 and homeless. Not least of which would be the police after you for running numbers at a casino with a fake ID. It was amazing what some well fitting heels and lipstick could do for a kid.

But the heels had been ditched when a mark had recognized her from her street performance - she'd been so careful too! The Luxor was no where near her normal haunts, how was she supposed to know that one guy was going to be the one person to actually walk the entire strip?!

Green eyes darting around as she was becoming more desperate, Harper didn't see her mentor anywhere. Turning around to zag the other way, still away from her pursuers, she ran into a familiar solid wall of muscle and bounced off. Caught by a weather hand, when she looked up to Ody, his one good eye was watching the cops that were now catching up. "What seems to be the problem, officers?" He asked in his strange Scandinavian accent.

The rookie was less out of breath than his portly partner, but it still took him a moment to catch his breath enough to say, "Minor, running numbers. Her. Casino."

Harper had the grace to look sheepish when Ody raised his eyebrows and looked down at her. "She's but 11, officer. I'm sure she didn't understand what she was doing."

There it was again, that weird electric feeling she got sometimes around her mentor. The one that made her arm hair stand up and indicated she should shut up and go along with it. "I thought it was part of the game," she wailed softly and summoned tears to her eyes. It was a lie, she knew it, she knew Ody knew it, but the cops didn't.

The cops shared a glance, the rookie seeming to buy it instantly, but the older cop was not so swayed. "Still a minor. I'm afraid she's going to have to come with us."

Ody looked at the man and suddenly the older cop's expression went slack. "You should go now, forget the girl." The cop, oddly, just nodded as Harper shivered, the energies stronger than before. As both cops turned to leave, Ody did something he'd not done in a few years and bent to pick Harper up with one arm effortlessly, as if she weighed nothing. Suddenly they were no longer in the park, but the derelict courtyard of an old hotel. Run down and weather beaten, the stones of the outdoor plaza still radiated the desert heat despite the coolness of twilight setting in. Harper blinked and looked around as Ody set her down, a sense of true wonder growing in her mind. She'd learned some "magic" from him for a few years now, illusions, misdirection, sleight of hand... but they were somewhere entirely different. That was impossible!

"Ody...?" She started, but her homeless companion cleared his throat as he sat down on the edge of the old fountain.

"Come sit by me Harper," she said and pat the sandstone beside him. "I wasn't expecting this would come so soon, but I think it is time." When she didn't appear in his line of sight, the older man looked up from under the hood of his old army jacket to see the spritely, toe headed child shaking her head in fear, lips pressed together in an anxious line. "You're not in trouble child. I mean to give you your birthright, and knowledge. Do you not trust me?"

He watched her hesitate, but as was her way and a way that he'd come to understand, the girl was blunt. "Ody, you just hypnotized two cops then teleported us somewhere I can't hear traffic, nor can I see the road surrounded by an abandoned old hotel. If I told you someone else did this for, to... around me, what would you say?"

He chuckled, genuinely amused and thinking her not unlike his eldest son at her age. Stubborn. "I would say we're it anyone but me to scream loudly, and run as fast as you could as far away as possible. But it is me, and I ask; have I ever given you reason not to trust me?"

He could all but hear the gears turning in her mind as she weighed her options and opinions, debating the merits and risks. That was something she had on his eldest - she was far more clever. However after just a moment she came over and sat cautiously beside him, her eyes never leaving him. "Be easy, child. I do not nor have I ever meant you harm. Tell me, what do you remember of your mother?"

As predicted, Harper's face fell, along with her eyes to the concrete. "She tried. Until she overdosed."

"What if I told you she did not overdose, but instead was killed?"

Cunning eyes cut up to him. "I'd ask how you know?"

"I'd did not kill her, so don't look at me like that," he grumbled. "I'd tried to save her. I failed. She died... due to me and who I am."

That earned him a magnificent frown. "Wait huh? I remember that night, and you weren't there. When she stuffed my in the cabinet and the power went out, and then I couldn't get out until the cops came and she was dead with a needle in her arm. You weren't there..."

"And you know because you were locked in a cabinet?" He pointed out gently, watching as her lips pursed in frustration. "You heard nothing due to magic, little one. It is not your fault. The titans and their spawn are more powerful than you can fathom just now."

"Titans? Like... in the book you gave me? "

"The same and many more. Ymir and the jotuns are but a few of many."

"But those are just stories, Ody," she said, frowning. "You're talking crazy."

"No, child, they are real, as real as I am, and the magic that pulled you here and allowed me to protect you for as long as I have." Pulling down his hood and off the cloth he kept over his eye, he revealed a touch if his divine nature, and for the first time Harper saw Odin, Allfather sitting next to her. Literally falling off her seat, the 11 year old scrambled back exactly one scoot before stopping herself as she took in the situation and calmed her reactions.

"You're a god?" She asked in awe. "What.. but I'm an orphan and not... I'm not anyone! What, did I do for you to be so nice to me?"

Reaching out to help her back to her seat and sat next to her, the Allfather smiled. "You are my daughter."

That did it. It was the state that broken the camel's back, and Harper's eyes welled with tears, torn between joy and disbelief. Instead of tackling him I'm a hug or railing and asking all the whys she had, a strangled, mousy sound came out.inthe shape of a "How?"

Odin chuckled. "Well I'll explain details when you're older, but suffice to say I cared for your mother." Explaining the proclivity of the gods to make scions, what scions did for the gods and against the titans, it was full on dark before he was done.

Harper stared at the concrete beneath her feet. After all these years; the training both physical and mental - even though they were just 4 short years, she’d learned more from him than any school or dance lesson could give. He’d sent people to her, people with skills he didn’t have - A street magician and illusionist named Apollo (who she was now wondering about…), a nameless ex-military guy who had a soft spot for kids and knew more languages and marital arts than anyone should ever need. An actress who she suspected might be more than that (Spy? Grifter? She never figured it out…) All these things were to prepare her for this eventuality - to make sure she survived long enough to find out that not only did she have a father, a family, but that they… were gods.

“The lady… that day you started teaching me. The business lady. She was an agent of the titans… ‘cause they knew I was your daughter,” she said in dawning realization. Odin just nodded sadly. Looking up to him, there was a maelstrom of questions spinning through her mind. “But.. I’m just a kid.”

“You’re not just a kid, pup,” he chuckled. “You’re the child of a god. And you’re nowhere near ready to take on the assignment your older siblings and other like you normally do. But The Wyrd tells me it is time for me to give you this,” he said and reached into his jackt wo produce a sterling silver necklace. The Pendant was in the shape of a crescent moon and shone under the stars.

She looked up to him, realizing suddenly that no one had ever given her anything so nice as that necklace, and it was instantly her favorite thing in the world. But the moment it touched her hand, everything changed. Divine Ichor flowed through her veins, and life as the child had known it was forever changed.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Harper" Image made here; http://www.rinmarugames.com/playgame.php?game_link=anime-school-girl-dress-up-game


	4. Chapter 4

_ We've got the power, who's got the action  _ _   
_ _ Break it down till there's nothing but a mere fraction  _ _   
_ _ Out of the fire, rise from the ashes  _ _   
_ _ Reject your doubt and release the passion  _ _   
_ _ Let's get on it, believe if you want it  _ _   
_ _ step into the realm where the real ones flaunt it  _ _   
_ _ Come back, rewind, another time on it  _ _   
_ __ Reach out, take that, but now step on it    
  


Not an hour before, Harper had been rubbing elbows with royalty from Monaco and making plans to sip diamond filled champagne glasses for a few weeks next month, and here she was crawling through an air duct. The weird part? She actually liked this better. 

Mostly because she was on Scion assignment. She was sixteen, and Odin, her  _ father _ , who she adored, had been given her bigger jobs. She knew she was still climbing the totem pole, but when her father came to her and gave her jobs like this, she was thrilled. There was a relic in a museum that she was the one entrusted to get it. It made her feel something she cherished in her life; Important. And dangerous. She really liked feeling dangerous.

Coming to a drop in the vents, she spider climbed down skillfully, sliding the last few step and calling on her magic to land silently, crouched like a wolf on the prowled. It was the ceiling above the display, and this was the first time she’d be using her rappelling rig, but she’d been practicing for months. It felt as familiar and comfortable now to her as the Chuck Taylors on her feet. tying the few knots and clipping her carribbeaners she knelt down and started undoing the vent screws, not wasting a moment. She had 12 minutes to complete the job with timing of security patrols and cameras, and she was counting in her head. She’d been counting since the minute she’d hit the building and hadn’t stopped. 

Spilling out the vent like an Olympic gymnast, she felt her rigging hold her weight and it was on. Lowering herself down, she watched as the camera slowly swung away from her and smiled. Reaching the display over the vase, she also found a thrill of excitement; this vase was going to be the oldest thing she’d ever touched. 

Her gloves were thermo-blocking, and she took out her gum to press over the pressure button  giving her long enough to lift the glass slowly and with no shaking like she’d practiced 100 times. Reaching for the vase, holding the glass case in the other hand, she replaced the case with the vase in hand and the high she got from pick pocketing when she did it for fun now was amplified tenfold. As soon as the glass class was settled, gum removed and DNA evidence cleaned up, Harper was on her way back up her rope silently. She thought she was clear.

However ten feet from the ceiling and her escape, a voice - surprisingly soft and sounding surprised in and of itself - said, “Hey!”

Her head snapped to the sound and she saw a young man wearing an oversized security guard’s uniform. In the split second she looked at him, she took noted of everything. He wasn’t a security guard - he had an empty holster, no badge, the hat was sliding into his eyes and his belt was even too big. He stared at her in surprise and growing anger, and Harper made a calculated guess - that he was also there to steal the vase. That and he’d said “hey” in English. He was super cute, but she was high on the win. 

Giving him a wink, he couldn’t have been much older than she was, before she zipped the rest of the way back up into the vents and booked it through her escape route. The Alarms never sounded, and she got away without pursuit - with the Norwegian Sea-Scape Vase - Apparently a Divine Relic the Titan’s agents were after.

That and she got to pet it… it was  _ so old! _


	5. Chapter 5

_ I'm not one to scare the masses  _ _   
_ _ But there's some things that melt the plastic  _ _   
_ __ Try and dig down deeper if you can    
  


It was her 21st birthday, and the mooned over the ring Odin had sent to her with a note saying he was proud, and that he was very sorry he was going to be late to their customary Dinner date on her birthday. They did it every year. She’d actually not known when her birthday was until he told her, and he’d always made it if he could. She wasn’t upset - her dinner in the five star New York restaurant was already paid for, and she could now feel the powers of Death and Darkness and could wait to go play with them. 

Harper was now a name in the underworld of art theft that people knew. Technically her name was Harper Odinsdaughter, but that was a bit of a mouthful, so she’d decided years ago to just be “Harper” for the mortals. It was 2005, she’d wanted for nothing in more than a decade thanks to all she’d learned, she barrelled towards the promise of true greatness every day and towards Valhalla, and all because of her wonderful father. 

How could she have possibly been mad at him? A birthday was just a day. He’d given her a life.

When someone sat down in the chair across from her, Harper didn’t react, but covered the hilt of her boot knife with her hand under the table where she’d been sitting with her knees crossed, admiring her ring. 

Keen eyes cutting up to her interloper, something sparked in Harper’s mind - something important. She just couldn’t put her finger on it. 

He was handsome, first and foremost.  _ Very _ handsome. He also radiated power of the divine variety. He was a Scion. His almond shaped eyes were amused as if he could read the surprise she hid skillfully. His suit was well tailored, and he was clean cut, despite his longish hair. Diamond cufflinks matched his tie pin and he had to be sitting in at  _ least _ 15,000 dollars of suit, tie and accoutrement. Granted her dress, a little black number she’d eyed in a window on Fashion Row two hours ago had cost $2000 for approximately 3 yards of material, and her Crescent Moon was accompanied by the largest diamond she’d ever lifted. They were matched well. 

“That’s a lovely ring,” he said and Harper could hear the confidence dripping from his words. 

“A gift. It is my birthday after all.” This was dangerous… and fun. He’d made the first move, but she was game to play. 

“Happy Birthday,” he purred in surprise. “A lovely ring for a lovely lady.”

She smiled brilliantly at him and inclined her head. “I’m guessing you aren’t here just because I was sitting alone.”

“Storm,” he said offering his hand, and when she took it, he brought her hand to his lips to kiss her knuckles. “It’s my name.”

“I’ve heard of you,” she said trying not to be distracted by the perfect blue of his eyes. “The British Museum is not a fan.”

“And you’re right, Harper,” he said dropping her name like it was covered in honey, “I’m not just here because there was an empty seat in front of a beautiful woman. I wanted to introduce myself.”

“Always nice to meet another person of The Trade,” she smiled. Her hand hand’t left her knife though. 

“Oh we’ve met before,” he said with a slow smile, and Harper felt her mask flinch a moment. She’d known she’d seen him somewhere. But  _ where??? _ “I just wanted us to be introduced.”

She narrowed her eyes slightly, and it just made his now shit eating smirk wider until like a stroke out of the blue she pictured him more gangly, less gym day perfect and in an oversized security suit. “No…” she said in genuine surprise. “The security guard from Reykjavik.” It wasn’t a question. She knew.

Storm just grinned broadly. “I was afraid you wouldn’t recognize me.”

“You filled out.”

“So did you.” She felt his gaze as it flickered. “But I could never forget that face.”

“What do you want?” she asked evenly. This was getting more dangerous by the minute - his motivations were in question, and he was far too tempting in conversation of shop with a near equal and staring into blue eyes for her to draw this out. She didn’t have friends, she had Odin. Friends were liabilities, and somehow she knew they could be a lot more than friends. Not. An. Option.

“Straight to the point. I like that. Nothing, actually. Well,” he shrugged and it was somehow graceful. “Not more than I said. I wanted to introduce myself. I’ve followed your work, ever since that night, and I couldn’t help myself when I saw you sitting there.”

“You’re stalking me?” she asked, mostly joking. Mostly.

“Yes and no. I’m bewitched by you,” he said, leaning forward and upping the intensity to 11. It took everything she could do not to blush. She was also hoping he was feeding her a line. “I look forward to seeing you again.”

With that, he stood and she felt him call on his legend for something she never saw before he winked and walked away, and despite not being anywhere near powerful enough for the fate binding he’d just forged with her to last, Harper knew it wouldn’t matter. They would meet again. Winking to her, not unlike she had him 5 years before hanging from a ceiling in a museum in Reykjavik, he turned to go.

Out the door 2 minutes and she watched Odin walk in. It was always odd to see him in a suit - once a year, only on her birthday - Beard trimmed, satin eyepatch and hair pulled neatly back in a braid, he sat and joined her with a smile that faded. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked softly. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Eyes trailing back to the door, the impression ‘Storm’ had just made on her was profound. “Not a ghost. It’s nothing, I hope - just a coworker,” she said and met his gaze so he would understand her meaning. “He recognized me, and wanted an introduction. So he said.”

Odin frowned and took her hand over the table. “Do you believe him?”

Thinking over the conversation, his posture, how he’d been bragging almost knowing who she was, she doubted he’d just seen her sitting there, and there was a strange tension that refused to leave her shoulders, but she found that she was nodding. “I do. But… I think that’s the problem. I think things are going to get interesting, dad.”

“You have no idea pup,” Odin said rubbing his thumb over her knuckles, knowing that her life would be getting nothing but more interesting from that point forward. “You have no idea.”

  
_ I'm not afraid  _ _   
_ _ I'm not ashamed  _ _   
_ _ I'm not to blame  _ _   
_ _ Welcome to the masquerade  _ _   
_ _ I'm not ashamed  _ _   
_ _ I'm not afraid  _ _   
_ _ I'm not okay  _ _   
_ __ Welcome to the masquerade    



End file.
